Viva La Vida

Article by Merle Grunert (Published 10.12.2023)

As the directors of the “Musikabend” stated, the concert was intended to not only represent the pleasant moments in life but also to take you to various places. It did just that, it made me forget about my worries and allowed me to enjoy the pure talent of the young artists. But the concert did not stay true to its name at first glance or its purpose to show you the delightful sides of life. 

The concert was made up of a mixture of Christmas, pop, and classical songs, that were all beautifully executed. The Orchestra, the Pop Choir, and the Musik Grundkurs offered astonishing performances. But Siiri Abdel-Ghany’s interpretation of “Suite for Solo Cello: I. Preludio-Fantasia” by Gaspar Cassadó was one of the most moving of them all and I pity anyone who was not there to hear it that evening. The piece was obviously thoroughly practiced before the performance and was played very lively. Abdel-Ghany brought a lot of emotion to the piece making it a “feast for the ears” and a true experience. 

Another soloist who gave a well received performance was Jasper Jokisch, who sang and played piano for his portrayal of “Holy Night”. Looking around the room it was obvious that it was one of the “fan favourites”, which was not unexpected as his singing was exceptionally captivating. 

Aside from the Students' performances the choice of specific songs seemed rather odd at first. For instance choosing to sing the song “Creep” by Radiohead may not be the best when one is trying to create an escape from reality and highlight positivity. “Creep” is quite obviously about a man who is filled with self-hatred and thinks he can’t talk to a woman he is in love with because he isn’t attractive enough, and ultimately ends up stalking her. At first, I was confused as to why this song was chosen for the program, after an attempt at making some sense of the meaning of this piece in the context of "Viva la Vida", I concluded that it could represent the fact that life is often filled with misery. To me, it meant taking life as it is., with all it's  "self-hatred" and misery. 

Their performance was not my favourite, as it wasn’t true to the song itself. Although I have to admit that I am a Radiohead fan and knew to take careful note of the song once I saw it on the program. 

The choir made sure to enunciate every single word, which is very important for many other songs, but in this case entirely eliminated the feeling of anger which caused this song to be written. However, what has to be acknowledged 

was that they did not censor any swear words, which allowed the interpretation to remain somewhat true to the original.

"Viva la Vida" evoked many emotions and depicted a life span in a single evening.

When looking at the evening as a whole it was a lovely to say the least, it was filled with great performances that were birthed by the students' excitement to perform. It was evident that everyone who participated in the “Musikabend” had a passion for music which reflected on their interpretation of the pieces played. The only real critique I have is towards our fellow students who didn’t come to the concert to support their peers and enjoy the music.